Grigor Artsruni

Grigor Artsuni on a stamp from Armenia

Grigor Artsruni (also spelled as Krikor Ardzruni) (Armenian: Գրիգոր Արծրունի) (27 February 1845 - 19 December 1892) was an Armenian journalist, critic, writer and public activist, Doctor of Political Economy and Philosophy (degreed by Heidelberg University in 1869). Since 1872 he had been publishing the Mshak magazine being its editor and manager until his death.

He studied at Moscow and Saint-Petersburg universities, studied Armenian at Mekhitarists centers in Europe. In 1872 he established and edited Mshak (Մշակ/Cultivator), the basis of Armenian liberalism. He had been its editor and manager until his death. Artsruni marked the necessity of development of capitalism in Armenia, supported the idea of armed resistance as a solution for the Armenian question. Artsruni was a mentor to the Armenian writer Raffi (1835–1888).

The tombstone of Grigor Artsruni in Khojivank

Works

• The economic situation of the Armenians in Turkey, (Original: Թիւրքաց հայերի տնտեսական դրութիւնը դասախօսութիւն)
• Էվէլինա Հոգեբանական Էտիւդ (Հայերէն Մի Անտիպ Ձեռագրից), publishing house Տէրտէրեան Ղուկաս Վրդ., Tiflis 1891
• The Eastern question, Tiflis, 1876 (in Russian).

Sources

• Concise Armenian Encyclopedia, Ed. by acad. K. Khudaverdyan, Yerevan, 1990, Vol. 1, p. 383.
• Armenia: The Survival of a Nation